Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu toured a naval vessel on Tuesday, using the backdrop of his country's military power to warn of the threat posed by the nuclear ambitions of arch-foe Iran.
"The threat that Iran poses is very grave for the state of Israel, for peace in the Middle East and the whole world," Netanyahu said aboard the INS Eilat, a missile ship used recently to intercept a weapons-laden cargo vessel Israel said was ferrying arms from Iran to the Lebanese Hezbollah militia.
"Without any doubt, we are the first target but not the last," Netanyahu said on the ship anchored off the Mediterranean port city of Haifa.
Netanyahu also toured one of Israel's three German-made, Dolphin-class submarines, the country's most expensive weapons platform.
According to specialist newsletter Jane's Defence Weekly, the submarines, known as U212s, are designed for a crew of 35, have a range of 4,500 kilometres (2,810 miles) and can launch cruise missiles carrying nuclear warheads.
However, when it confirmed the sale in 2006, the German government said the two vessels were not equipped to carry nuclear weapons.
Israeli media have reported that the Dolphin submarine could be key to any attack on Iranian nuclear facilities aimed at depriving it of any possibility of developing a weapons capability like Israel's own.
An Israeli submarine passed through the Suez Canal for the first time in June, escorted by Egyptian navy vessels, in what Israeli media said was intended as a message to Iran.
The Middle East's sole if undeclared nuclear power, Israel suspects Iran of trying to develop atomic weapons of its own, a charge Iranian officials strongly deny.
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